Let me begin by mentioning, yet again, that I HATE technology. I had a beautiful post written last night and had saved it here, but, this being the only computer, I had to give it up and take care of the baby. Well...let's just say...my beautiful post is gone. SO...I'm going to try and re-create the moment from what I can remember (don't get your hopes up...I have a major case of baby brain lately) and we'll go from there. Lesson learned? Maybe I should save these elsewhere on the computer from now on. *sigh*
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Wednesday evening I was lucky enough to be able to attend a presentation on contemporary Haida regalia, followed by a discussion on cultural appropriation (the taking of someone's cultural property and passing it off as your own). Well, I cannot tell you anything about the first 30 minutes or so as Miss Noora (whom I had dragged with me...Willie escaped due to work) decided she was hungry and did NOT want to go with her cousin. So...I propped myself up against the back wall of the Performance House at the Haida Heritage Center and tried to listen as best I could while I fed her.
I was more focused on the photos, really. Haida regalia, or Xaaydas Gyaagiigaay, is BEAUTIFUL! It's not just a woven cedar canoe cape, or a pair of painted leather leggings, a shimmering appliqued button blanket, or an intricately carved gold bracelet. It is art! Funny enough, there is no word in the Haida language for art, or artist. It is woven so tightly into the complicated web of history, culture, myth and society, that it just simply...is. The shapes and designs that are used are called formline and this style is what you typically see in Northwest Coast "Art". Thankfully, Noora had finished eating and was sleeping soundly. Her auntie took her while I went back to the front and found my notepad.
I made it just in time. The presenter, Nika Collinson-Robertson, had started to get into all the "rules" of regalia. Perhaps the most important rules surrounded who could wear which crest. A crest is an animal, bird, fish or sometimes person and you mainly see them making up giant totempoles or adorning vests, blankets or jewellery. The main thing is each clan has certain crests that are associated with it. For example, in the Cha'atl clan (Willie's Eagle clan) their crests are Eagle, Bear, Beaver, Five-fin Killer Whale and a Raven's head. The Raven's head was not originally theirs, however. At one time their chief was visiting an friendly territory and died (not anyone's fault, I think Willie told me it was food poisoning..but I'll check that) and the Tsimshian people felt so badly that they gave that clan the right to one of their crests, the Raven head. This is how seriously these rules are regarded...a crest for a life. So basically, if I was to unknowingly give Willie a shirt with Frog on it, he would be unable to wear it. Another thing to note is, Haida society runs on a matrilineal basis...everything is passed on through the mother. The same goes for crests. A father may give his children special permission to use his crests but this permission dies with him. Therefore...I would suggest you do not get a tattoo of one of these crests! This special permission can be given to anyone, I suppose, however it is usually for a specific event or perhaps to be used when in the area, and to use the crest in another context would be disrespectful.
I was surprised to learn that face-paint was another thing that had certain meanings. I had noticed some painted faces during the Clan parade last year but I didn't think too much of it. It turns out that it does mean something! A face painted red on one side and black on the other is a right only the Cha'atl clan has. Having gills painted on one cheek is symbolic of the Dogfish but it's hard to know which clan the person is representing as it's a crest of the Ravens and Eagles. I guess it's like hearing someone's accent and knowing it sounds British, but you can't really pinpoint the area unless you have more information.
I was interested to learn that one can tell so much from a person's regalia. It takes practice to read regalia, however. Some things, especially in contemporary design, may be simply decorative. It's usually pretty easy to pick out a chief if he's wearing regalia...not everyone gets to wear a Chilkat blanket paired with a beautifully crafted headdress. I would say reading regalia is about as simple as reading a tartan. Enough said. I didn't know you could read a tartan until very recently...and it's not easy! Of course, it doesn't help that there are probably as many tartans of Scottish clans than there are people on Haida Gwaii.
This brings me to another point of the evening's discussion (there was so much information on regalia and I promise to share it...eventually!) The second half of the discussion was focused on cultural appropriation. Now, I won't go into great detail here because there was alot of information. I'll save it for another post. However, talking about "adopting" elements from another culture got me thinking. Why try and pass off an exotic culture for your own? It's one thing to love and appreciate things like food, music and art (I mean, who doesn't LOVE a good Italian meal) but it's another to steal a secret family recipe and make millions with it at a commercially run resturant. Make sense? You can take the basics and build upon them to create something new (cultural fusion) without disrespecting the culture, history and tradition. There are numerous charters and rights surrounding this issue and yet people always find ways around them. Apparently the term "Northwest Coast style art" is floating around...and it basically means that someone who non-native has used images, techniques, etc from the Northwest Coast people (could be Haida, Tsimshian, Tlingit, Nishga, Kwakwala or Salish) and replicated it as their own creation. But it's not technically stealing because it's not technically Northwest coast art...
Once you take the piece out of context and mass-produce it, it loses the magic. When you get a piece of regalia or anything really, the proper thing to do is validate it through ceremony. The most common ceremony is a potlach. These are ancient and new. They have been around as a way to pay debts, introduce children, honour chiefs, etc since the beginning of time...but in 1884 they were outlawed. Thank you, missionaries! Anyone caught having a potlach, or even attending one, was jailed. Of course, there was no validating that had to happen because their poles, regalia, chiefs, etc were outlawed too. Wow, that solves the issue of the potlach! (Please note the sarcasm...) It wasn't until the 1950s that the ban was lifted and the people could get back to paying respect and debts the old way..the proper way. So, next time you have the honour of attending a potlach or performance...think of it with this bit of history behind it. It may be cool to have First Nations art and such now...but would you still want it if it meant jail?
I also came out of the talk with numerous questions to which I am waiting a response. I also came out with a renewed sense of pride of my own "from-come" (fun term a friend once used). I will say I'm geared more towards the Scottish roots I have...I knew about the McCouls but I just recently found the connection to the "family of warriors who emigrated from Scotland" known as the MacKenzies, as well as the MacLeods. So...I intend to launch a little side-journey to this journey into my daughter's heritage and find out some pieces of my own puzzle.
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